mp3 sonar

Mr.Know-It-All says:

Sound quality is based on how the mp3 is created. Look for mp3 songs that have a bit rate higher than 128kbps. Here’s a good article to read:

http://www.mp3-tech.org/tests/gb/index.html

The reason the ipod’s have bad sound quality is because of the earphones that come with the ipods suck potty water. They are circular in shape and fall out of ears, unless you jam them in your ear. No ones earholes are circular.

Try this test:

Take a friend who has an ipod, go to one of the stores where you can try the different headphones. Try your friends in-ear headphones, using the same song and volume level. Next, try the stores ON-EAR headphones, and then the OVER-EAR headphones. You’ll definitely notice a quality difference.

In-ear headphones have a smaller speaker driver, like 9mm-11mm.
On-ear headphones have speaker drivers around the 30mm-40mm size.
Over-ear headphones typically have a speaker driver size around 50mm, maybe larger.

It is a combination of

Mp3 bit rate (160kbps or greater, lossless)
type of headphones

that make a huge difference in quality. Don’t write off the iPods, or else you’ll have to dismiss any mp3 player ever made.